Revolving-cylinder engine.



No. 663,087. Patented Dec. 4, |900.

.1. n. McFARLANn, 1R. REVLVING CYLINDER ENGINE. (Appucatiou med sept; 4, 1900.) (No Model.)

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SNN r .ATENT Priori.;

JAMES D. MCFARLAND, JR., OF SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO'JOHN BRUOKMAN, OF SAME PLACE.

REVOLVlNG-CYLINDER ENGINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 663,087, dated December 4, 1900.

Application filed September 4, 1900. Serial No. 28,931. (No model.)

To all whom t may concern.-

Beit known that I, JAMES D. MCFARLAND, Jr., a citizen of the United States, residing in the city and county of San Francisco, State of California, have invented an Improvement in Revolving-Cylinder Engines; and I hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same.

My invention relates to an engine in which cylinders are mounted radially with relation to an axis about which they are revoluble and the piston-rode on said cylinders are connected with a second shaft which is eccentrically placed with relation tothe first-named shaft, whereby a reciprocation of the pistons in the cylinders is produced by their revolution around the two centers.

My present invention consists in a construction by which the propelling duid under pressure is alternately admitted to opposite sides of thepistons and correspondingly exhausted therefrom through a piston-rod having passages communicating with the cylinder on each side of the piston and in conjunction with these passages of inlet and exhaust passages made through the eccentric shaft with which. the piston-rods are connected and inter-mediate sleeves having ports bywhich the propelling medium is alternately admitted through one of the passages ot' each pistonrod and exhausted through the other in unison with the reciprocations of the piston.

My invention also comprises details of construction, which will be more fully explained by reference to the accompanying drawings, in Which- Figure 1 is a sectional side elevation of the machine. Fig. 2 is a vertical section on line o@ a' of Fig. l. Fig. 3 is a similar section on line ly y of Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is a cross-section of piston-rod on line w w of Fig. 2. Fig. 5 is a view of the ported sleeve. Fig. 6 is a skeleton view of the inlet and exhaust passages and eccentric shaft.

The cylinders 3 have their outer ends supported in the rim of a Wheel A of any suitable description, mounted and Aturnable upon a shaft 2, the cylinders being suspended from the ring, as indicated at 4, and the inner ends extend approximately radial toward the center of the Wheel. The cylinders 3 in my present construction have the inner ends, as well as the outer ends, closed by cylinder-heads 3', with the usual stuffing-boxes through which the piston-rods ll are designed to reciprocate. These piston-rods are made with two passages extending longitudinally through them, one of the passages 11i connecting with the cylin- `der toward the outer end of the piston, and

thelother passage 40 opening'through the side of the piston-rod contiguous to the inner end of the piston, so that iiuid under pressure may pass through one of these passages into the outer end of the cylinderand through the other into the inner end and be correspond! ingly exhausted through the same passages by means of a valve-gear, to be hereinafter described, which alternately admit-s the fluid into one end of the cylinder and exhausts it from -the opposite end during the revolution of the apparatus. Gis a second shaft located eccentrically with relation to the main shaft 2, and with this shaft 2 the hollow7 piston-rods 1l are connected with intervening rings 22, 23, and 2,4 and sleeve, through which the Huid under pressure is admitted and exhausted I and by which the movements of the engine may be reversed at will.

Surrounding the shaft 6 in a plane of the cylinders and having a sufficient length in the line of the shaft is a sleeve 15, which is turnable upon the shaft. The passages or slots made through this sleeve, as at 19, 19, 20, 205, 21, and 21a, are made to register with the inlet and exhaust passages 12, 13, 12, 12b, 13a, and 13, the positions of which passages are shown in Figs. 1, 2, and 6, the latter being diagrammatic for clearer illustration. By turning the sleeve 'l5 upon the shaft the passages through the sleeve are brought into such relation with the supply-passages last referred to that the iiuid under pressure will be admitted through one set of passages and through one of the passages 11L or 11b of the piston-rod, while the exhaust-passages are correspondingly made to register with the other piston-rod passage, so that While the fluid under pressure is admitted to one side of the piston that which is upon the other side and which has completed its work will be exhausted through the other passage. As

IOO

shown in Fig. l, these passages are in such position that the piston 8 being at the bottom of the cylinder the lfluid under pressure is,

entering below the piston through the passageV 11a and theexit 40, While the exhaust is 'passing through the other passage 1l"A by means of the passage 4l. The arrows in the figure show the direction in which the fluid is moving, and a similar disposition of arrows in Fig. 6 shows that the iiuid under pressure is entering through the passage 12 in the shaft, thence passing through the branch l2a and into the piston-rod passage lla, while the exhaust passing through the piston-rod passage 11b enters the branch 13b in the shaft, thence passing out through the main exhaust-passage 13. In this manner I am enabled to employ the fluid under I pressure to actuate the pistons of each of the cylinders in both directions, and thereby to largely increase the effectiveness of the apparatus.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

l. An' engine consisting of radially disposed cylinders with pistons and piston-rods having independent passages longitudinally therethrough, one of said passages connecting with the closed cylinder-space upon one side of the piston and the other with the cylinder-space upon the other side of the piston, connections between the inner end of said piston-rods, and a shaft having inlet and exhaust passages made through it, and an interposed sleeve having slots or channels coincident with the supply-passages in the shaft and adapted to register with the passages in the piston-rods to provide for inlet and exhaust of the actuating fluid.

2. In an engine radially-disposed cylinders, revoluble rims to which the outer ends of said cylinders are connected and with which they are revoluble, anv eccentreally-located shaft having-passages therein through which the propelling medium under pressure is admitted and exhausted, a sleeve surrounding the shaft and having passages coincident With those in the latter, and concentric vrings surrounding the sleeve and turnable about the passages therein and piston-rods connecting therewith, said rods having independent openings longitudinally therethrough, one of which communicates with the cylinder-space upon one side of the piston, and the other with the cylinder-space upon the opposite side.

3. The combination in an engine of a series of radially-disposed cylinders having closed ends, a wheel, a central shaft with relation to which it is turn-able, and with the rim of which Wheel the cylinders are connected, a second shaft eccentrically'located with relation to the rst shaft having inlet and outlet passages for the propelling medium, hollow piston-rods extendingA through stuffing-boxes in the inner heads of the cylinders and having independent passages therethrough communicating respectively with the cylinderchambers upon opposite sides of the piston, rings inclosing the supply-shaft with which rings lthe hollow piston-rods connect, a sleeve interposed between the rings and the shaft having slots which coincide periodically with the passages in the shaft, and thus leading to the hollow piston-rods whereby the propelling medium is alternately admitted and exhausted from opposite sides of the piston.

In Witness whereof .I have hereunto set my hand. v I

JAMES D. MGFARLAND, JR.

Witnesses:

S. H. NoURsE, JEssIE C. BRODIE. 

